Connected consumers not plugging in but spike expected in VOD, EST online revenues

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Connected consumers not plugging in but spike expected in VOD, EST online revenues * Editor ©RapidTVNews | 05-12-2011 * The increased adoption of connected TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles and streaming media players is driving a huge upturn in online TV revenues, even though only a fraction of consumers actually connects it to the Internet. According to the NPD In-Stat report, *OTT Video: Content, Devices, Retail, and Pay-TV Collide (http://www.instat.com/abstract.asp?id=212&SKU=IN1104885CM)*, about 17 million US households already own a connected TV and ownership of streaming media players is said to have nearly doubled since the end of 2010. Yet the survey also warns that only a fraction of consumers that own an Internet-capable TV device actually connects it to the Internet to become over-the-top (OTT) video consumers. That said, the analyst bullishly predicts that the growing base of OTT households is propelling the revenue for online video-on-demand (VOD) and electronic-sell-through (EST) Indeed, In-Stat expects the collaborative and competitive models among physical and digital retailers, content owners, and pay-TV operators to realign themselves as players in the ecosystem grapple with the evolving mix of physical versus digital channels, EST, pay-TV, OTT, and subscription VOD (SVOD) to double by 2015. The report calculates that streaming video transactions will reach just under 1 billion in 2010 and that Netflix and other subscription VOD suppliers are shifting to a more TV-centric model to compete more directly with HBO, Showtime, and Starz.